SLU fights back but falls at the last second to lose to Grand Canyon 73-72

SLU had taken the lead with about 8 minutes to play and held on until the last second when Lok Wur missed the front end of a one-and-one but got the rebound on his own miss and turned and shot without looking to score. SLU’s desperation inbounds play never got off the ground as Kobe Johnson’s long inbounds pass to Robbie Avila at midfield went wide and Avila caught it out of bounds.

SLU is 6-6 with one more nonconference game remaining on Saturday against William Woods at Chaifetz Arena.

Isaiah Swope scored 17 points as five Billikens hit double figures. Kalu Anya had 12 and Robbie Avila, Gibson Jimerson and Kobe Johnson each had 11 points.

SLU went from down five at the half to up one in less than two minutes as the 3s that wouldn’t fall in the first half began to fall. The comeback proved difficult, however, when Avila picked up his fourth foul, a key offensive foul as he tried to weave his way to the basket, and coach Josh Schertz had to begin a tightrope walk on when to put Avila back in.

SLU made it easy for him by staying close, and with 9:01 left and SLU down three, Avila got back into the game. SLU then went on a 6-0 run to take a 65-63 lead and thought it had a four-point lead when goaltending was called on a Jimerson drive to the basket, but a later review showed that the call was in error and the points came off the board.

Kalu Anya made two free throws to put SLU ahead by three, but with 2:20 left, Grand Canyon’s Collin Moore hit a 3 to tie the game. Avila answered with a 3 to put SLU back in the lead with 1:49 left. Avila had a shot blocked on a drive and GCU’s Wur made a layin with 46.6 seconds left. But SLU didn’t score on its next two possessions, with Avila getting a shot blocked and then on the next possession, Swope getting a shot blocked that led to a shot clock violation.

Kellen Thames missed his second straight game with a strained hip flexor, again leaving SLU coach Josh Schertz with one less option at the guard position. Swope and Jimerson both got short breaks in the first half, and when Jimerson was subbed with 8:25 left in the half, it ended his streak of consecutive minutes played at 91 minutes, 35 seconds, dating back to the end of Chicago State- game when Schertz was able to clear his bench.

SLU trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, and after trailing 32-19 — at which point it had made just 2 of 15 3-point attempts — used a halftime 13-5 run to cut down. leading to 37-32. Almost all of that came from Swope, who scored all 11 of his first-half points in the final five minutes.